Pop quiz! True or False?
- Environmental education is not required in most public schools in the United States.
- Many schools do not have the funding for hands-on activities.
- There are communities in the United States that don’t have clean water.
Think about it for a second
Well, if you said they’re all true, you’d be correct!
The St. Louis area is located on a flood plain. Not only is this area on a flood plain, it also has a heavily industrial background. The pipes that are underground are deteriorating over time and are not sustainable during heavy rains. Areas in Illinois like Cahokia Heights (formerly Cahokia, Centreville, and Alorton), and East St. Louis faces sewage flooding into their yards. The Community-Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars (CODES) at SIUE partnered with HeartLands Conservancy and the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, Nutrition, and Innovation Center to look deeper into this issue. We are six students from this organization that works with after-school kids at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee (JJK) Academy in East St. Louis.Â
Our vision is to educate the youth about good water conservation practices so that they implement these habits in their home. Looking at the bigger picture, we want to influence this new generation to be knowledgeable about water and combat climate change. We have orchestrated our own water fair at JJK Academy with students aged 8-10. We had 4 stations that focused on water conservation vocabulary, soil, water runoff, and water filtration. By participating in water fairs, children are exposed to water conservation exercises and will want to take pride in conserving their Earth.
We have conducted almost two years of research about this wicked water equity issue. We have interviewed local educators and organizations, surveyed over 200 educators regarding their part in water conservation education, and learned from SIUE’s own STEM Center faculty about what it takes to develop lesson plans. The emerging themes were lack of awareness, lack of funding, and outstanding curriculum requirements, all preventing educators from implementing water conservation into their classrooms. Therefore, we visited the Illinois State Capitol where we spoke with legislators about our findings. We decided to tackle after school programming which has less regulations. Read further to learn about the steps we took to orchestrate our very own water fair!
Justin Richerson created the station, “The Magic of Water Filtration.” It started when he wanted to make a simple inexpensive project that portrayed an aspect of Water Filtration, when the idea was floated that I should make it about water filtration, after confirming this as a good idea with his peers and the community partners, he had set the research into motion and found several sources detailing the process, using materials such as a soda bottle, sand, pebbles of varying sizes, and cottonballs, it was also preferable that all these items were very inexpensive and easy to find/be supplied with. After the construction of the Simple water filter, it was ready for presentation.
His part of the Water Fair was essentially about water filtration and its effects on the environment. It had been constructed using a simple model of the water filter, using a bottle, and some other relatively inexpensive materials. Then, he decided to make an activity out of it using a large notepad and drew an example of the water filter and had the kids describe each layer of the simple water filter. It was meant for the students to comprehend what they were previously taught and bring their own ideas into it.
“Water Word Wonders” is a game that Alexandra created inspired by a fun and interactive approach to learning terms related to water conservation. When she started her research on water conservation education for young kids, she couldn’t find many fun activities to teach them about water sustainability, taking care of water, and key terms related to this topic. So, the idea of making a game that was both fun and low-cost came to mind. After looking into different possible games, she decided on a matching game where kids match a definition to a card that includes a word and a picture. The picture helps kids better understand the words. Another thing she considered is that the game can be easily modified for older or younger kids, but for her version, it was made specifically for 5 to 12 year olds.
*Insert The Dirt Detective – Marques
Sonia Sheryr created her lesson plan called Runoff with Water Knowledge. She plans on researching secondary sources regarding rain gardens, pollutants and other obstructions, and runoff water. She will include more evidence in her lesson plan and tailor it efficiently for her specific target audience to help convey the importance of runoff water in water conservation. It is also important to put into perspective how this one lesson plan can help picture the water cycle and runoff while understanding its functions and roles.
After our water fair concluded, we were able to dissect what went well and what areas could use improvement. One of our group members, Payton Plummer, constructed a water fair toolkit. This is a guide for other communities to implement similar events. She wanted to analyze the CODES water fair on a bigger scale. She began by brainstorming topics that would encompass our goals but also that would be age appropriate and easily digestible.
She created a google doc with different tabs, starting with a “Read Me” file– consisting of an overview and instructions for navigation. Another tab is labeled “Logistics” which covers the planning details it takes to create a water fair. The next tab is “CODES Water Fair” where there is a detailed description of all things that went into constructing the water fair that inspired it all. The remaining tabs are the topics covered: Water Equity, Water Conservation, Water Filtration, Community Gardens, and Flooding. Within each topic, there are four more tabs: Overview, Photos, Instructions, and Materials. Each topic has hands-on activities that would have a lasting impact on the participants and lead them to think more about water.
We have been working alongside the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, Nutrition, and Innovation Center in East St. Louis, especially with local educators, Zach and Kurly. Zach and Kurly were able to attend our water fair and give us good feedback, which was incorporated into the toolkit also. Payton hopes that this toolkit can be distributed to other communities to raise a new generation of students to make good decisions regarding water.
Tamiria’s focus in this research was to investigate the methods that organizations use to inform the public about water conservation. This process took about approximately a month to interview and decode them. With that being said, she was able to interview 3 staff members in the education department about the methods that they use. They began to explain their relationship between local school districts as it regards teaching science curriculum. Furthermore, staff members shared that they supply teachers with materials such as soil to help immerse students into the learning experience. Through this process, She was able to create a thematic analysis based off the words that were repeated the most. This allowed for her to understand the importance, just like the National Great River Center, we were able to apply these same engaging techniques to our 2025 Water Fair. We had four stations where students were able to take different things from. Ultimately, the experience allowed for students to take away positive water conservation practice that can be applied to daily life.
In conclusion, we have all played a role in this research building into what is now known as the water fair, giving us the opportunity to teach kids a fun lesson in water conservation that we have created or modified to fit with our partners approach in a fun and interactive way of teaching in their after school program. After being able to try out lessons we were able to learn and understand different ideas and experiences with kids and how we can improve our ways of teaching that improve kids’ awareness of water conservation. We as the education research group in water conservation hope to make a difference in kids’ lives for the future of water resources.